Paradigm Shift: Redefining Physical Health and Its Causes
“When we become aware of the miracle of our life or the impermanence of Being, the sense that we’re an isolated and limited person, ‘stuck’ in ill health - disappears.”
In recent years, research exploring the placebo effect has demonstrated a significant link between the mind and body.
Studies have found that when medication is effective, 50% of its impact may actually be due to ‘the positive message that a doctor provides when prescribing the treatment.’
Many of us have experienced this connection first hand through mind-body therapies - which have the power to ease chronic pain and the symptoms of disease, as well as improving cognitive function.
But just as the relationship between mind and body can foster health, in certain states it can also lead to illness.
Mental ‘Information’ = Physical ‘Inflammation’
The body always responds to how we think, feel, and act. If we’re stressed, anxious, or upset, the body will react in order to tell you something isn’t right.
For example, we might develop high blood pressure, or a stomach ulcer after a particularly stressful event. When prolonged, stress can cause or exacerbate many serious health issues, including:
Cardiovascular disease such heart disease, high blood pressure, abnormal heart rhythms, heart attacks, and stroke.
Gastrointestinal problems, such as GERD, gastritis, ulcerative colitis, and irritable colon.
Skin and hair problems such as acne, psoriasis, and eczema, and permanent hair loss.
Obesity and other eating disorders.
Sexual dysfunction, such as impotence and premature ejaculation in men and loss of sexual desire in both men and women.
Menstrual problems.
What all chronic diseases have in common is a continuous process of inflammation - creating premature degenerative changes in the cells and rapid deterioration in the tissues or organs.
In some cases degenerative diseases can be cured, while in others the best that can be hoped for is a temporary alleviation of symptoms.
According to the Sovereign Health model, inflammation in the body is related to information in the mind. And what’s important to recognise here is that much of the information we routinely process in the mind is distorted, disturbing and destructive.
The Circadian Paradox™
Neuroscientists estimate that we have an average of 90,000 thoughts a day - each one motivated by that basic desire for increased well-being. And this gives rise to a very important question.
If, each day, we’re formulating 90,000 thoughts in the direction of happiness, why don't we see a massive corresponding change? Think about it for a moment - that’s twenty-nine million thoughts a year, and almost two and half billion thoughts over a lifetime.
If all of those thoughts are seeking simple positive change why doesn’t that change ever happen? Why doesn't our capacity for well-being increase? And why doesn't our stress and negativity come down?
The Circadian Paradox shows that there’s a massive discrepancy between output and outcome in our life - and that on an important level we’re out of sync with reality.
So the answer is as simple as it is radical: one of the main reasons that we’re physically out of sync (ill) is because we’re mentally out of sync with the way things really are.
The Missing ‘Peace’
In meditation we shift our attention from being sickness-centred to wellness-centred. The shift is relatively straightforward. All that is required is to recognise that your life is a miracle - right now.
Right now your body is performing a myriad of complex and co-ordinated processes to keep you alive. All of your cellular activity, for some astounding reason, is keyed into powering life. This occurs whether you’re aware of it or not.
The same thing is happening at all levels of life on earth. This same mysterious force is maintaining the coherence of our solar system and galaxy. It seems that there is an incredible orchestration throughout the known universe, of which you are a part.
From this perspective, everything in the universe is actually geared towards wellness at this very moment - and it is only your sense of limitation and of lack, that creates the appearance of being sick.
Practical Transition / Profound Transformation
One of the main goals of meditation practice is to strengthen our connection with the truth or Being itself, and this allows us to relate to ill health in a radically different way.
For the early 20th century philosopher Martin Heidegger, Being refers to the state of impermanence - which can be directly experienced by letting go of the illusion of permanence.
From that deeper perspective, what we grasp at as physical 'health' is really just a fleeting state between birth and death.
Stopping to allow this profound truth to land can be liberating. It invites us to drop our ordinary points of references and acknowledge the nature of our existence.
We may find that many of the things we relate to as “real” problems fall away, replaced by an abiding sense of calm. Thinking slows and there is an openness to radically new possibilities. The sense of self that is wrapped up in ordinary points of references ceases to be so relevant.
Knowing vs Being
When we become aware of the miracle of our life or the impermanence of Being, the sense that we’re an isolated and limited person ‘stuck’ in ill health disappears. That ordinary limited view is a consequence of our over-reliance on Knowing as opposed to Being.
Those who rely on Knowing have made amazing discoveries in the material world, which in turn have led to incredible technological progress. But Knowing hasn't brought a similar transformation of human consciousness.
Those who have explored Being have made many wondrous discoveries that enable deep and radical transformation of the human mind - revealing our innate potential for abiding peace, loving kindness, compassion and a visceral and deep connection to all things and beings. All this is happening just below the noise of mental activity and emotional reactions.
For as long as our thoughts and actions are not in accordance with the principles of life, our ability to access this limitless healing capacity is obscured.
What would happen if you were to step outside the noise and drop into Being? Take a few moments, in stillness, to really allow that to impact you.
The Connection Correction
Classical Buddhist scriptures describe primordial awareness as the medicine for treating and healing pain or disease. This is referring not only to psycho-emotional pain, but also to the healing of physical pain and disease.
Within the Sovereign Health approach, the ‘Three P’s’ refer to three essential qualities of mind, which, when accessed, have enormous transformational power.
Peace
Presence
Possibility
These arise naturally whenever the mind is calm and centred - and these profound - yet often ignored - states play a crucial role in all health, wellness and recovery.
Through harnessing the power of the Three P’s you can discover the potential to dissolve away the root of the pain and illness. This is very likely an important factor in cases of spontaneous healing.
How can we learn to tap into these? And how do they work together to present a radically different approach to physical and mental health?